Hi everyone,

We arrived at Koh Tao a little tried still after the party but not as bad as some people which was good. We had booked to stay at Bans which is number 1 on the island for diving and really cheap compared to the rest of the world. When we got there it all looked really nice and we got "upgraded" for an extra 500baht a night. The rooms were a bit gross compared to the rest of the complex but it was ok and we only had to sleep there as the same day we arrived we started our open water scuba diving course.

There was loads of theory and we had homework which was not fun but quite easy really and i copied Ash most of the time. The next day we had to do some diving in the swimming pool to learn the basics and get used to the equipment. Which went ok.

The next day we had to do more theory in the morning then our first open water dive to 12metres which we were very nervous about. Our instructor Belynda was very nice though and helped us all I had a bit of a panick and she had to come and get me as i wouldnt let go of our helpers hand!!!! whoops. The dive went ok in the end once i was on the bottom we didnt see much though as we were so focused on what we were ment to be doing and how much air we had left.

We did 2 dives that day and the second was much better we didnt go as deep but took in our surroundings as saw loads of different fish and coral it was amazing but luckily we didnt see any sharks.

The next day we had to be up and ready at 7.30 do they not know we are on holiday! It was worth it though we went to 18metres which didnt feel any different but there was loads more to look at. We had to do some compass skills and ascend using another persons air. We also got to do karate kicks and flips which was fun as so easy when you are weightless. Before we knew it it was time to surface.

We did a second dive and were filmed for this one which was fun we built a pyramid and swam through lots of obstacles and coral. It was after this dive that we got our very own log books which ment that we had passed our open water diving course!!!!

Our instructor want us to do the adventure diver which ment staying an extra day and doing 3 more dives and we couldnt refuse really so the next day it was more paperwork in the morning then we went diving in the afternoon.

The first dive was our deep dive to 30metres it was really good and didnt feel that different to 18metres. She showed us what happens to an egg and that depth it was really wierd the yolk goes all rubbery. The fish loved it though and ate the eggs. We also groupiers and a school of baracuda it was amzing to see them all in formation.

The next dive was the navigation dive which ment we had to find our way around on our own underwater we were a little scared. I had more problems with my ears though and took ages to get down whcih sort of ruined the dive a little bit but we all passed and no one got lost navigating on their own.

We came back to shore then went back out again later on for our first night dive. We were very nervous as its dark!

We all had torches but this didnt make me feel any better, we saw a couple of large baracudas and some sting rays, also our instructor made us turn off our torches to show us that if you move under the water green phospurus comes off it was really good but Ash and I were holding onto each other so we didnt get lost, but we lost our insturctor until he turned his torch back on. We werent that keen and wouldnt do it again.

We passed our adventure diver though and will hopefully dive in Australia.

We left for Koh Samui the next day.